US Navy wants to power warships with seawater

The U.S. Navy may someday turn its back on fossil fuels entirely, thanks to an effort to turn seawater into fuel for ships at sea, according to a story in International Business Times.

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Guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (right), with a French anti-submarine frigate during exercises earlier this year.

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory developed a way to extract carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas from seawater "by a gas-to-liquids process with the help of catalytic converters," according to the report.

The world's largest navy would like to free itself from the price and inventory fluctuations associated with oil-based fuels. The Navy operates almost 300 vessels, but all but 72 submarines and a handful of aircraft carriers are powered by fuel derived from oil.